'Walking Dead' premiere breaks ratings record

This undated image released by AMC shows David Morrisey as The Governor brushing the hair of Kylie Szymanski as Penny in a scene from the third season of "The Walking Dead."
(AP)

A whole bunch of people watched "The Walking Dead" premiere Sunday evening.

The American people love zombies so much that 17.3 million viewers tuned in to watch Rick, Daryl, and the rest of our heroes take on the horrific folks of Terminus. More importantly, 11 million of those people were in the coveted adult 18-49 demographic!

Zombies even beat out Sunday Night Football, which is a must-see for many Americans. Over 2.5 million more people watched "The Walking Dead," and AMC estimates that when time-shifted viewing is accounted for, the Season 5 premiere could top 22 million viewers, which we'd guestimate is about how many zombies died in Sunday's premiere.

The previous ratings record held by the Season 4 premiere tallied 16.1 million total viewers and 10.4 million viewers in the 18-49 demo. With DVR playback included, those numbers rose to 21.1 million and 13.9 million, respectively.